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Stanford Seminar - Dave Duff, Tesla Motors

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Wow, so the day after the MT Car of the Year award, the engineer in charge of designing the 3 phase plug for the European Model S was still not finished with the design. They are working on a much tighter schedule than I would have imagined.
 
Near the end he talked about designing the plug for the European cars, to accommodate 3 phase. Said he needs to get it done before they can sell in Europe. So you EU types might be excited to hear that.
 
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Near the end he talked about designing the plug for the European Roadsters, to accommodate 3 phase.

The European Model S's :)

He also said something about cycle life of the battery pack during the Q&A session, the question was about V2G, and whether the battery could take that kind of cycling. He said that as long as the batteries are cycled only around the middle point of SoC, they can take tens of thousands of cycles, it's the top to bottom cycles that "beat the heck out of them". The question is at 1:08:00.

I really think that Tesla should get rid of the need to charge fully all the time as soon as possible. Give us a way to say how much range we need and when, and the car could manage the batteries for maximum life by itself. The batteries would spend almost all their time somewhere around half full.
 
There was some discussion recently about whether the X might have larger batteries than the Model S (65 kWh and 90 kWh, or whatever) to account the larger vehicle size. I held off commentary because my recollection was only fuzzy that they had said the S and X would have the same battery packs.

Am I reading too much into it that Mr. Duff seems to be confirming my prior recollection?
Dave Duff @ Stanford Seminar @ 1:04:38 said:
... Model X and Model S because they in fact will use the same battery pack
 
There was some discussion recently about whether the X might have larger batteries than the Model S (65 kWh and 90 kWh, or whatever) to account the larger vehicle size. I held off commentary because my recollection was only fuzzy that they had said the S and X would have the same battery packs.

Am I reading too much into it that Mr. Duff seems to be confirming my prior recollection?

... Model X and Model S because they in fact will use the same battery pack

As this question revolved around battery swapping, I think the important aspect is the battery pack casing with its mechanical, electrical and coolant interfaces.

IMHO there is no need to have the pack size harmonized across model lines.
 
I listened to Duff's entire presentation. For those of us who know Tesla, there weren't wasn't too much new information. But lots that can be used to make the case for electric cars among the critics and doubters. I was surprised that Duff was not very well informed about Tesla beyond his immediate responsibilities. For example, he was uncertain about production goals and when the company would be cash flow positive. Maybe he's just totally focused on the engineering challenges he's facing.
 
I was surprised that Duff was not very well informed about Tesla beyond his immediate responsibilities. For example, he was uncertain about production goals and when the company would be cash flow positive. Maybe he's just totally focused on the engineering challenges he's facing.
For engineers, one of the skills "selected for" (in recruiting, not evolution) is the ability to focus on your area deeply to the exclusive of outside distractions. Even the public and non-public developments of your own company fit into the realm of "outside distractions" in some cases.

So generally, I don't find it surprising. It's a little surprising that he didn't do some additional prep on common questions as part of the runup to the talk though.
 
Long video with not much new info.

I was a little supprised that the speaker had not ridden in a Model S yet, except for a mule with no interior. Also interesting was his comment about most Tesla employees being car enthusiasts, with an interesting array of vehicles in the employee parking lot.

I bet employees would really appricate it if local Model S owners invited them to a meet up and offered rides. It would mean a lot to know their customers really appreciated their hard work.

GSP